Better Late Than Never
by Nadie2
Summary: Sam and Jack get together after her father gives them his blessing right before he dies. They deal with being half a country apart, raising a college student (Cassie), and other aspects of everyday life.
1. April 8, 2005

The doorbell rings. It's an annoying long bell sound. Sam never heard her doorbell before. She didn't even try it out when she rented the house. It wasn't like she was staying forever, so who cared.

When she goes to answer it she's shocked to see her commanding officer standing there. Strike that… her former commanding officer. Now that she's transferred to Area 51, he isn't her commanding officer anymore. Now he's nothing to her, and that bothers her more than she'd like to admit.

"Hi," he says.

"Hi," she replies back.

A moment of silence.

He shifts awkwardly on his feet, and she notices the duffle bag dangling from his arm. It's the one they get issued in basic training; apparently Jack never gave his back.

She remembers that he isn't from around here. That he must have flown from D.C. all the way to the middle of the Nevada desert to see her.

"Come on in," she says, moving away from the door.

"Thanks," he replies, looking relieved.

When they lived in the same town, he was only in her house once, and that was only because she'd seen an alien during off hours. She'd been to his house a few times, but most of them were business-related, too.

"I want to offer you something to eat, but all I have is some left over Chinese," she says.

"That would be great," he says, dropping the bag by the door. She's not quite sure what that means. She has no idea if he intends to stay the night, or the weekend, or what, and she's a little scared to ask.

"I'll just heat it up for you," she says, leading him into the kitchen.

"I like it cold," he says.

So she just pulls it out of the fridge, sticks a fork in it, and hands it to him.

He looks around the kitchen to see where he should sit. There is only one chair, and it's next to a tiny table that is covered in paperwork.

"Do you want to sit in the living room?" she asks.

The living room is clearly not set up for company, either. There is a chair declared hers by books, and an empty diet coke on the end table, but the couch is covered in boxes. She moves a few to the floor, and he sits down.

He takes a bite of the Chinese and realizes it is still warm. It's strangely intimate to be eating out of the same take out container as she did so recently.

"How have you been?" he asks.

"Good," she says.

A pause.

"I assume you're not here because the world is ending," she says.

"This has nothing to do with the Stargate," he says.

Which is weird, because everything with them has always revolved around the Stargate. Not just the putting away of their feelings, but having the feelings too.

"I'm getting old," he says suddenly.

She looks at him concerned, "Sir, did you get some bad medical news?"

He laughs, "No, Samantha, I don't have to go to the doctor to know that I'm not a spring chicken."

She can never decide if she loves it or hates it when he calls her Samantha. Usually, it's when he feels sorry for her, or she's wearing some tribal dress.

"You're not old, sir," she says softly.

In some ways, she's right, and that's the only reason he's here at all. He still plays with yoyos and video games. He's got more youth that she has. He's not quite ready to give up on a happily-ever-after with someone. He's still got two chairs in his kitchen. He may be sixteen years older than her, but Sam has always been the mature one.

"Is the 'Sir' strictly necessary?" he asks.

The words fill her with undeniable relief. Now at least she can understand why he's here.

"Do you want to play chess?" she asks.

He's played with Daniel, and he taught Teal'c, but the two of them never played. She clears off the rest of the couch, and pulls a board out of one of the boxes, and sets it on the cushion between them. It's a precarious situation, and means that neither of them can do a whole lot of breathing, but that's fine, because neither of them were really planning on breathing anyway.

"I take it you don't view Nevada as a permanent location," Jack says, with a glance at the boxes.

"I just haven't had the ambition to unpack."

He worries that she's depressed. Her father just died, and her engagement just blew up a few weeks ago, after all.

"I can't imagine you as anything but ambitious," he says lightly.

A suspicion leaks into her brain, and causes her to make a bad move on the chess board before she says rather bitterly, "Did you draw the short straw?" When Jack was all depressed, they drew straws to see who had to check on him.

"What?" he asks, confused.

"Daniel and Teal'c made you come up here and check on me, didn't they? It was just because I cried the other night on the phone with Daniel. Well, I'm fine," she says defensively.

"I didn't talk to Daniel," he says softly, making a decisive move. He's perhaps even better at chess strategy than he is at military.

Sam blushes, and wished she kept her mouth shut. "I'm really fine," she says, taking a long time with her next move so she doesn't make any mistake.

"Well, that's kind of amazing. _I'm_ not even fine about Jacob's death, and he wasn't my father," Jack says.

She studies his face carefully, and sees grief etched there. But there is more in the face that she missed on his first arrival. He's lonely. He's just moved away from his team, too.

"You want a beer?" she asks. He nods her head, and she pops up to get it. She knocks over a few chess pieces in the process, pawns, and he sets them back up. She returns a few minutes later, and hands him one as she takes a sip out of her own.

"I don't want you to think I'm just here about Jacob," he says, "I mean that's part of it, but…"

"I know," she says.

He forces himself to say a bit more than he wants too, "I'm here about the room."

"What?" she asks. He lives in a different state, and she's not taking in roommates.

"You know, we left stuff in it."

Maybe she should have unpacked her boxes; does she have something of his?

"The Zanex," he mutters in frustration.

"Oh," she says. "THAT room."

He meets her eyes, and is alarmed to see a little panic there. This was a stupid idea. He never should have flown across the country without a phone call to see what she was thinking. For crying out loud, she'd been engaged two weeks ago.

But she'd broken off that engagement to be with him. And he couldn't see what her face was doing if they were on the phone.

Sam is panicking right now. He's never seen Sam panic before. It's unnerving to see someone who has blown up a sun losing her cool.

He stands, and hands her his beer, unsipped, "I'm sorry. This was a bad idea. I'm sorry to bother you."

"Stay," she orders. Her voice sort of chokes as it comes out.

"Sam, it's okay. Your life has changed a lot in the last month. I shouldn't be surprised that… this changed too."

"It didn't," she says.

He gives her a 'you've got to be shitting me' look that he stole from her father, it hurts her heart. "I'm just surprised, and I'm not sure exactly… I don't have any eggs."

"What?" he asks, confused. Why the hell is she talking about reproduction? Apparently they left very different things in that room.

"For breakfast. I don't have any eggs for breakfast," she says.

"Oh," he smiles understanding. "Sam, are you worried that I came here expecting you to jump into bed with me?"

"The duffle bag," she mutters, blushing.

"I thought you might let me crash on the couch, but if that's too weird, I can get a hotel. I'm in town until Sunday, but I don't have to spend every second of that with you."

She lets out a breath of relief.

"I thought we could work on transferring our relationship from colleges to friends, and then later from friends to…" he lets his voice drift off.

"I'm sorry… it's just… guys usually want to go quicker than I want to and… I'd hate to disappoint you."

"That would be impossible, Sam. So… should I get a room?"

"You can stay in Cassie's room," she says, sitting back down.

"Cassie has a room here?" he says in surprise.

"I almost decided to be her mom the first time she lost her parents. When Janet died… she had a month left of high school…"

"I knew she lived with you," Jack says.

"Well she's going to be coming to stay with me when college gets out for the summer," Sam says softly.

"Good," Jack says, "Kids need their parents for a long time after they turn 18."

Now they are back in Jacob territory, and they both fidget.

Sam draws her legs up under her, and turns toward the game. She moves the pieces that have wiggled out of their squares back.

"So how is DC?" she asks.

"Full of politicians," he tells her, making a face and a move on the board.

"There is this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant I used to go to all the time when I lived there," she says.

"We could go together, sometime," he says, looking up at her hopefully. She could get lost in those brown eyes.

"Maybe I could make a trip to you weekend after next," she says.

"I'd like that," he grins.

"Checkmate," Jack says a few moves later.

"Movie?" Sam asks.

"Sure, science fiction to mock?" he asks.

"You know me well," she says with a smile.

"Well, eight years together will do that to you."


	2. April 9 2005

A ringing causes Sam to reach into the back pocket of her jeans and grab her phone.

"Hey, Daniel," she says shooting Jack a grin. "I'm actually doing good. I'm walking in the park right now. Yeah, I know I was upset last week, but I'm good."

Same listens tolerably for a bit to the person on the other end of the line, and then she says, "You know, Daniel, I should probably go. I'm not exactly walking through the park alone," another pause when Sam can barely contain her laughter, "Talk to you tomorrow Daniel."

Jack's phone rings, and he draws it out of his pocket, and glances at his screen before he pulls it up to his ear, "Hey Danny boy. Oh you have horrible news? No, I'm actually not sitting down. I'm walking through a park." There is a pause, and then Jack says, "bye," and hangs up.

Sam is laughing so hard that she can't walk forward.

"He says congratulations," Jack says.

Sam grins at him, "I wish I could have seen his face." Then the grin comes off her face, "I hope he didn't get the wrong impression. I mean…"

"You worried that he thinks just because I'm staying in your house that I'm staying in his bed."

Sam shrugs.

"I'll make sure he knows I wasn't," Jack says.

"I'm sorry, it's just weird, I was engaged less than a month ago," she whispers.

"I know," he says in a way that lets our more emotions than he meant to.

She hadn't realized how much she hurt him. Well, she would have if she thought about it, "I'm sorry," she whispers. Then she pauses, "But you encouraged me to be with Pete."

"I did not!" he protests.

"The humming, the ring? I kept hoping you'd tell me not to. But no, you're always like, yeah date him, yeah marry him," she rants.

"I wanted you to be happy!"

"Well, I tried really hard, but it turns out I can't be happy unless I'm with you!" she blurts. She looks over at him sheepishly.

He giggles.

"So, since we're talking about stuff that usually isn't discussed this early in a relationship are you opposed to marriage? Or marriage with Jonas and Pete?" Jack asks giving her a quick look.

"Well, I have no intention of being engaged again, but I'd marry the right guy," she says looking at the ground.

"How exactly do you plan on being married without being engaged?" he asks.

"Ok, not no engagement at all, just a really sort one," she says, "I just won't plan another wedding, or let someone plan it for me like Pete did."

"Noted, city call," he says.

"But not in the near future," she says giving him a nervous glance.

"Of course not, but you know what I think should be in our near future? Jello."

She giggles.


	3. April 15, 2005

"You didn't have to pick me up from the airport," Sam says as Jack takes her bag from her.

"This way I get a little more time with you," Jack says.

"You're an Air Force general. I'm sure you have more important things to do."

"Nothing more important than you," he says, bumping her shoulder. It's the first time they've touched since they started dating.

"How you been?" she asks him.

"Good, you?" he asks, turning toward her with a facial expression that she totally hates to see. He actually cares the answer to the question.

"Good," she says, looking away.

"Except?" he asks.

"Cassie's had a tough week at school. Lots of phone calls."

"What's wrong with Cass?" he asked.

Jonas was annoyed when she flew across the country to be an aunt. Pete never understood that she thought of Cassie as her own when her mom died. Here is Jack ,looking at her with as much concern for Cassie as she had.

"She'll be fine. A professor gave her a C. She is worried that she can't do college."

"A C is average," Jack points out.

"My baby isn't average," Sam says with offense.

"She'll get her grades up," Jack says with a smile at the word 'baby'. "So Cassie broke up with Dominic when she went to college, right?"

"It was actually around the time that Janet died, but yeah," Sam says.

"Any other boys sniffing around?" Jack asks.

"I don't know that she'd tell me if there were. I mean… not unless there was something serious, and I don't think Cass is ready for serious yet."

"You know, I always felt bad about Cassie. I felt like I should have done more for her."

"Are you kidding, she told me that you were the closest thing to a father that she's had since she came to Earth."

"I took her to the park. I went to her school. I bought her a dog… I wasn't a parent."

"I know, I was mom's best friend, and now…" Sam trails off.

"Is it hard to start the parenting when the kids already at college?" Jack asks.

"Yeah, and she really misses her mom," Sam says.

"Charlie would be the same age as Cassie," Jack says.

"I never really did the math on that before," she says softly, looking at him, concerned.

"I wonder what he would have done with his life. He wanted to be an astronaut, but he was 10, so that probably would have changed."

"It's ironic that he liked the stars, and it wasn't until after he died that you went to them," she says gently.

"Yeah, of course, it's not like I could have told him, anyway," he says.

"Right, classified. But you really wouldn't have told your kid?" she asks.

"There were a lot of classified things that I never told him. He didn't need to know when Daddy came back from Russia."

"I get that," Sam says.

"And Cass may know about the whole Stargate thing, but I've never let her in on details. She doesn't need to know the reasons we came back hurt."

"She asks me stuff, and that's one of the reasons I moved to Nevada. I don't have to choose between her worrying or lying to her."

He smiles at her.

-0-

"Wow," she says when she walks into Jack's apartment to see a white tablecloth laid out with china, unlit candles, and flowers.

Jack walks over to the oven, and peaks inside, "Don't be too impressed. I can't cook. So the meal is frozen lasagna heated up."

"Well, I don't even own a table cloth, so you still have me beat."

"I'll show you to your room," he says.

"I have my own room?" she asks, following him down the hallway.

"Well, it's one of my guest rooms, but I decorated it with you in mind."

"And the bed you slept in at my place was a Cassie-inspired pink leopard print," she says.

"You didn't pick that out with me in mind?" Jack asks with mock shock.

The room is so very her. The bedspread is yellow, and she can't remember ever having told him that it was her favorite color. The curtains are lacy white things which don't quite obscure the view of his backyard. The walls contain pictures of their time on SG-1. She's pretty sure at least half of them are classified, and shouldn't be up on the wall. It gives her a strange kind of comfort knowing that. She's pretty sure that he wouldn't let anyone into this room but her.

"Is the word 'wow' getting worn out yet?" she whispers.

He opens the closet and says, "There are spare blankets and towels in here. If you need anything else you'll let me know, right?"

"I'm going to feel right at home here," she assures him.


	4. April 16, 2005

"Are you ready?" Jack asks, knocking on Sam's door without entering just in case the answer to that question was no.

"Just about," she responds, wrapping a shawl around her shoulders as she opens the door to let him in. They both stare at each other for a long minute.

"Are you wearing suit?" she asks.

"Heels," he tells her.

"When is the last time that you wore a suit?" she continues.

"You know that you're already tall, right?" he responds.

"Should I take them off?" she says self consciously. She hadn't worn heels with Pete or Jonas. Neither of them were short, but they weren't tall enough for her to add heels into the mix. With Jack, she figured she could get away with heals. But he was right, she was tall, and she shouldn't make things worse.

"No, I like the…" he looks at her legs until she blushes.

"Okay, so you're ready?" she asks quickly.

"Right," he says, suddenly remembering that he's supposed to be doing something, and taking her by the elbow and leading her to the car.

-0-

"Jack!" a voice says, coming up to their table.

"Senator," Jack says, standing up to greet the man before him. Sam thought she was pretty up-to-date on DC politics, but she can't quite name which Senator this is. She stands up anyway, and waits for the introduction. "This is my," and it is only after these words have left his mouth that Jack realizes they never really discussed what they were going to call each other, "Sam," he finishes awkwardly.

"Your Sam, and here I thought you were against the ownership of human beings," the Senator jokes.

"Samantha Carter," she says, extending her hand to the man in an attempt to end the awkwardness between him and Jack.

"Not _the_ Samantha Carter, Colonel in the Air force?" the Senator asks, obviously impressed.

"One and the same," Jack says, puffing himself up as if he'd created her himself in a laboratory.

"I've read all your mission reports. I'm a huge fan," The Senator says. He turns to his wife and says, "This one is a bona-fide American hero."

"You're really overstating things a bit," Sam says with a blush.

"As your former commanding officer, I can attest that he's really not," Jack says.

"Commanding Officer?" the Senator's wife asks with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Oh, not anymore, and we didn't start dating until he wasn't," Sam breaks in.

"At least not in public," the Senator says, giving Jack a little ribbing in the side.

"No, seriously, there was nothing going on until we both got different jobs," Jack says in a voice so serious there could be no doubt.

"Right, this is actually our first date," Sam says.

"Last night's dinner doesn't count? The walk in the park? The cold Chinese food and a game of chess?" Jack says with an exaggerate pout.

"Ok, I'll admit to this being our third date, but the Chinese food doesn't count," she says.

"We'll let you get back to your date, nice seeing you," the Senator says, smiling at the couple and shaking Jack's hand before they walk away.

Sam and Jack both sit down. "You could call me your girlfriend if you wanted," Sam tells him.

"Ok," he says, locking eyes with her for a moment which lasts so long it becomes a strange cross between awkward and romantic. Then he stands up suddenly, and extends a hand to her, "Do you want to dance while we're waiting?"


	5. May 27, 2005

"I cannot believe that you put gummy bears in the brownies," Cassie sighs, nonetheless taking a huge bite out of one of them.

"That's the way you like them," Sam points out.

"No, that's the way that I liked them when I was eleven. Now I'm an adult."

Legally, that's true, but Sam is pretty sure the adulthood doesn't go any farther in Cassie than the legality. She's just finished her second year of college, and is considering changing her major. Not that Sam is complaining. She came to the motherhood thing pretty late in Cassie's life, and she'd kind of like it if the girl needed a bit more than the average amount of mothering for a college student. Especially since this might be her only chance to do the motherhood thing.

"Ok, Cassie, I have something to tell you, and I probably should have done it a long time ago. But I was kind of nervous about your reaction, so I didn't. I have someone coming over tonight. And it's your house, and you can say no but…"

"A guy? You have a guy coming over tonight? He's going to spend the night?" Cassie asks with the brownie paused halfway to her mouth. A gummy bears dangles off the end of it by his ear.

"Yeah, but it's not like that. He just came from a long way away, and wants to spend time with us, and the hotel seemed kind of like I waste of money so…"

The gummy bear drops to the table, which by the way now has three chairs around it, and is cleared of any paperwork.

"It's not Pete, is it?" Cassie asks with eyes wide.

"No, it's not Pete," Sam says, just as she's interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"I'll get it," Cassie says, dropping her brownie and running over to the door. She flings the door open to reveal Jack standing there with a really large duffle bag.

"Jack!" she says.

"Apparently Sam didn't get to the part where she told you I was coming. She was supposed to get that done before I came," Jack says.

Cassie throws her arms around him. "You're not Pete!" she declares.

"No, I'm certainly not," Jack says, looking over his shoulder at Sam.

"I got the part where I told them that someone was coming, but I didn't quite get to the who yet," Sam says.

"I'm so glad the guy Sam has coming over is you. Anyone else would be an invasion," Cassie says, pulling away from him.

"So you don't mind my crashing your party? I mean, you just got back from college for the summer. If you want some alone time with your mom, I can leave."

"Sam," Cassie corrects gently.

Jack flinches visibly, "Right, Sam."

"I'm fine with you being together. I just can't believe that you didn't tell me you were together!" Cassie says.

"It's pretty new. I mean… we've only been together for…" Sam begins doing math in her head to figure out how long it's been.

"Seven weeks," Jack says.

"Seven weeks," Sam says, grinning at him.

"Of course, we only see each other every other weekend so…" Jack begins.

"We've had 12 days together, one third of them Friday nights which were only a couple of hours together," Sam says.

"You didn't have to do the math on that one."

"I could figure out the hours for you wanted me to," she teases.

"This is so weird, Jack and Sam are a couple," Cassie says with a squeal. "Sam made little kid brownies."

"Brownies out of people, and you're happy about this?" Jack says, dropping his bag and heading into the kitchen.

Sam picks up the bag, and starts carrying it over to her room.

"Wow, what are you doing?" Jack says turning back to her.

"Well, you know Cassie is in the room you normally sleep in," Sam says.

"You let a boy sleep in my bed?" Cassie demands, offended.

"I washed the sheets," Sam tells her before turning back to Jack, "Come on, you'll sleep in my room."

"The couch is fine," Jack says.

Sam ignores him, and keeps carrying the bag to her room. Cassie senses that they really want her out of the room, and disappears into the kitchen to finish her brownie. But she is careful not to go out of earshot.

"I'm not going to sleep in your room just because you're short on beds, Sam."

She gets close enough to Jack, and whispers soft enough that she doesn't think Cassie is going to overhear, "That's not the only reason."

"You sure?" he whispers.

Sam nods her head.

"Ok, but you have to realize you're corrupting the college student."

"Cassie's had sex," Sam says.

"No, she hasn't," Jack says.

"She was seventeen," Sam says.

Jack sticks fingers in his ears and says, "La-la-la."

Sam rolls her eyes, and puts the bag in her room.


	6. June 4, 2005

"So, what do you want to see at the Smithsonian?" Sam asks Cassie.

"I don't know, the whole thing," Cassie replies.

"It's not even one museum. It's like a block of museums. You can't see it all in one weekend. I lived in DC for two years, and I haven't seen it all," Sam protests.

"Okay, well, we'll see, like, whatever," Cassie says.

"'Whatever'?" Sam repeats with a raised eyebrow.

"I think we need to start with the Air and Space museum," Jack says, taking Sam's hand.

"Cassie, do you realize this is a valuable cultural experience not everyone gets to have…" Sam begins. Then she stops in the middle, "I sound just like my dad."

"Well, there are a lot worse people to imitate than Jacob," Jack says with a smile.

"They have space suits from Apollo 11 here," Sam points out.

"Ok, and do they have pretzels? I'm in the mood for a pretzel," Cassie says.

"She's so young," Sam complains, leaning against Jack.

"So are you," he retorts.

"I'm not that younger than you. Sixteen years. That's nothing," Sam says.

"Right, and if Cassie brought home a guy who was…" he does the math quickly in his head, "Thirty-five years old."

Sam crinkles up her nose.

"Right, that's how I always pictured your dad felt about us," Jacks says.

"He loved you," Sam says quietly.

"And his judgment was so good in so many respects," Jack says.

Sam laughs, "You know, right before he died, he kind of told me to go for it with you," she says, looking at him to make sure that she didn't miss a second of the emotion he would have over that.

He grins. "It's really nice to get his approval."

"You've got my approval too, and that means something," Cassie says, walking backward so that their hands are clasped in the middle of her back.

"It sure does," Sam says, giggling.

"And we can skip the pretzels if it's offensive to the whole museum process," Cassie says.

"I just hope you get this is a good opportunity. A lot of kids don't get to travel around, see the world. I just hope you appreciate it, kid," Sam says.

"I do," Cassie says.

"Some people express appreciation with certain words, at least in this culture, which I realize you're not from," Sam teases.

"Thank you, Jack," Cassie says sincerely.

"It's a free museum," he says.

"Yeah, but we're staying at your house," Cassie points out.

"And out of that I get to spend a weekend with the two most interesting women in America," he says.

Cassie giggles and walks a couple of steps ahead again. Sam pulls Jack a little closer to her, and rests her head on his shoulder.


	7. July 9, 2005

"Stop it! You're creepy!" Sam says, rolling over in bed.

"I'm creepy because I'm watching my girlfriend sleep?" he asks.

"Yes!"

"It's not my fault that you sleep for an inordinate amount of time," he protests.

"I sleep seven hours a night; that is actually below average," she protests.

"Well, I only sleep six hours a night. That's not going to change."

"So your plan is to stare at me for an hour a night?"

"Well, we're only together four nights a month, so that's only four hours a month. That's not weird," a smile leaves his face.

"What's wrong? Come on, I was just teasing you. You can stare at me for as long as you want," she says.

"I just wish it was more than four night a month," he says.

"Well, we live in different towns, and I don't see that changing anytime soon," she says.

"What about a week at the cabin? We could do it before Cass has to go back to school. I'm sure you have enough leave saved up."

"Seven hours of staring at me in the morning," Sam says.

"Is that a yes?" he asks.

She nods her head.

"I want to talk future for a little bit," he says.

"Yeah?" she says.

"You're not done yet, are you? With the whole saving the world thing. I mean, you're taking a break from it. But you're going to go back."

"I guess I would go back if they really needed me, but I don't think they will. I mean, we beat the Goa'uld. I think the enemy at the gate is kind of gone."

"God, Sam, you really are young. There is always another enemy. You get rid of an enemy, and another one appears out of the blue. We've been fighting against someone since… the dawn of time."

She looks at him seriously, "If I ever felt like they really needed me I would go back. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I came back a lot. It just helps me figure out our future."

She searches his face, "You're not going to do something foolish like retire are you?" she asks.

He laughs. "It wouldn't be foolish to retire at my age. It's long past time. But I wasn't thinking of that."

"So you're asking if I'm okay living in a different city than you forever."

"I guess what I'm really wondering is if you would be opposed to being married in different cities for a while," he pauses as her eyes light up, "I'm talking completely theoretically. This is not a proposal. Not even close to a proposal."

She smiles, "Well, theoretically. I could do with a long-distance marriage."

"We've also never discussed kids."

"In a purely theoretical future kind of way?" Sam asks.

"Yeah," he says.

She looks away for a bit, "You know, when I was engaged to Pete," Jack flinches at her words, "I know that is the completely wrong thing to say right now. But anyway, I sat across from the table from you, and talked about how I couldn't imagine dropping off a kid at daycare, and then going through the Stargate. Well, right now I'm not going through the Stargate, because I couldn't even imagine parenting Cassie while going through the Stargate. I could probably go back, and I don't want to leave a baby behind."

"Even if there was another parent involved that didn't have a dangerous job?" Jack asks.

Sam nods her head, looking at Jack with eyes full of apology.

"I can respect that. And when you go back to doing a dangerous job, just know that I'll be here for Cassie. I mean, not like I was before. Not like an uncle. I'm there for her, like a dad, from now on," he says.

She smiles at him. "So are you okay with the idea of not having a kid?"

"I'm old, Sam. If we had a baby today, I'd be 71 when he graduated high school. I don't think it would be fair for the kid. I'm good with having Cassie as our only kid-type-person."

Sam smiles, and leans over to kiss him.


	8. August 6, 2005

They sit on three lawn chairs on the deck with their fishing poles in the water.

"So this is all that we do? We're just going to sit here all day and stare at the pond?" Cassie asks.

"Pretty much," Jack says.

Cassie rolls her eyes and lets out a big sigh, before standing up and walking toward the house.

"Where are you going?" Jack asks.

"I'm going to go write e-mails," Cassie says.

"There is no internet," Jack points out.

"Okay, so I'll type them up in a word document, and send them off when we're back to civilization in nine days."

"She's not going to make it," Sam whispers when she is out of earshot.

"We'll head into town and go to the internet café tomorrow," Jack says.

"I don't think she's going to last that long."

He giggles, "We'll go in and I'll play chess with her soon."

She takes his hand.

"I'm surprised that you're doing this well. I figured you'd be going stir-crazy as bad as Cassie."

"I think I could pretty much do anything if I had you by my side," Sam says.

"Oh, that was a cheesy line," Jack says.

"You really shouldn't make fun of someone who just said something nice about you," Sam says with a giggle.

"That line is just cheesy enough that I can feel confident in offering this," he says, pulling a small velvet box out of his pocket.

"Oh, wow," Sam says.

"I mean, it's probably too early, like way too early. So if you have to say 'not yet', don't feel like you're going to ruin things between us. I know that this is a long shot."

"Not too early, Jack," she says, "But you did remember what I said about being okay with a marriage but not an engagement, right?"

"Yeah, I applied for a marriage license. Just in case. So we could do it Wednesday," he says.

"Wow, yeah. But I would love for Teal'c, Daniel, Cam, and Vala to come."

"I already invited them," he says.

"Ok, so everyone knew about this apart from me?"

"Cassie doesn't," he says.

Sam grins, "Come on then," she says, practically dragging him forward.

He follows giggling.

Sam bursts into the cabin. "I think we just found a way to make this trip less boring."

"What?" Cassie says rolling her eyes.

Sam holds out her ringed hand.

"What?" Cassie exclaims. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Jack says, wrapping his arm around her back.

She jumps up and wraps her arms around them. "So what does this mean?" she asks, pulling back so that she can examine their faces.

"It means we're getting married, kid. I thought that was clear," Jack jokes.

"No, I get that. I just mean… who is moving where?" Cassie says.

"No one is," Sam says gently.

"So, you're doing what… another long engagement?" she asks.

"No, we're going to be married this week," Jack says.

"And I'd love for you be my maid of honor," Sam adds with a smile.

"So you're just going to keep living way far away from each other, forever?" Cassie says, screwing her face up into something that can only be described as a grimace.

"Not forever," Jack says.

"This just makes sense for us, right now," Sam says, pleading with her to understand.

"I just don't get it. You're getting married, but you're not living together. Nothing is changing. What is the point?" Cassie asks.

"The point is that we're in this forever. That we love each other, and we'd do anything for each other," Sam says.

"Are you like planning on having kids or something?" Cassie asks.

"Well, there is you," Jack says.

"I'm not a kid," Cassie says looking offended.

"You know what I mean. As long as either one of us is alive, you have a home to come back to. We're your family. You need a family no matter how old you get."

"I just don't want to feel like you're giving up on the idea of having a family because of me. Like I don't want that kind of a responsibility."

"Oh, babe," Sam says, putting her arms back around the girl, "It's not like that. You're not holding us back! Our lives and our choices mean that we're never going to have kids. You keep that decision from stinging so much. We are unbelievably glad to have you in our lives."

"And we want to be your parent-type people; understanding, of course, that Janet was, and always will be, your real mom," Jack says.

"We so want to be there for you though. You are totally the opposite of a burden."

"You are also the same age as Charlie would be," Jack says.

Cassie smiles, "Ok."

"And maybe you can provide us with some grandkids, no pressure," Jack says.

"And not for a couple years," Sam says with a look of panic on her face.

"She's a big young to be a grandma, but she'll adjust," Jack says.

Cassie laughs.

"I'm not going to have to adjust, because Cassie is going to wait until she's graduated, and married before she gives us one."

"Relax," Cassie says, "I'm not going to be making you a grandma for several years yet."


	9. April 10, 2005

"You're staring at me," she accuses, without even turning toward him.

"I have an excuse. It's our wedding day. This is the last time I ever get to look at the single woman Samantha Carter."

She rolls toward him, and buries herself in his chest, "Don't be sweet, or I'll start to regret the whole 'living in different states after we're married' thing."

He pulls away a bit so he can look at her. "Sam, if you want to live in the same place, all you have to do is say the word. I'll retire and move to Nevada. No questions asked."

She sighs, "You can long for something without demanding that it happen."

"Okay, just keep that offer in mind. 'Married' means that we're together, and we get to negotiate what that means as our needs change."

"Just know that you don't get to make all the sacrifices in our marriage," Sam says.

Cassie knocks on the door, "Hey, if you guys aren't _busy,_ can you come and say hi to the people who traveled across the country to come to your wedding."

"It's safe to come in, Cass," Sam says with a giggle.

"I should have known, since you guys are so old," Cassie says, running into the room and jumping on the bed.

"Let me assure you, we are _not_ too old to be busy," Jack says.

"Eew," Cassie says.

"Don't let your male pride gross out Cassie," Sam scolds.

"Besides, she's right, you are really old," Daniel says, entering the room.

"That is incorrect," Teal'c says.

"I'm so glad you guys could get there," Sam says, standing up and hugging her friends.

"We made it, too!" Vala says entering the room behind them, with Cam following behind, obviously very aware that he is in the bedroom of people who are going to get married today.

"And we're glad that you're here, too," Sam says, giving them a hug each.

-0-

"General Hammond, I am so glad that you could come to our wedding," Sam says, giving him a hug.

"Of course," he says. He pauses, examining her face for a couple of seconds, "I don't know if this is going to be offensive to your woman's lib stuff, or if it's going to hurt too much since it's so soon after your father's death, but I wanted to offer. Would you like me to walk you down the aisle?"

"Are you serious?" Sam asks.

"I'd be honored," Hammond responds.

"Thank you," she says, throwing her arms around him.

-0-

"I just have one question," Daniel asks Sam hours later at the reception, "Where did you find a wedding dress so fast? I mean, didn't Jack just ask you to marry him a couple of days ago?"

"Actually, it's Jack's mom's dress. It was at the cabin," Sam says, blushing a little.

"So basically, you had nothing at all to do with the planning of this wedding," Cam says.

"She doesn't plan weddings," Jack teases.

It's a little close to the bone for Sam, so she gives him a glare. "I bought the food."

"And it's very good," Cam says.

"Hey, all I care is that this is the marriage you actually went through with," Jack says.

"No kidding, she's a bit of a run-away bride. I half expected to see tennis shoes under that dress," Vala says.

"I'm sorry, is this my wedding day or a comedy roast?" Sam asks, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry. You're the most beautiful bride ever," Jack says, giving her a kiss on her temple.


	10. December 15, 2011

**Author's Note: I thought I was done with this story for all of time, and then the idea of how it was to end came upon me unawares, shook me out of a deep sleep, and began dictating lines of dialogue. It's a short one. I plan on doing one more chapter after this one set close to the current day.**

"So, Sam what has Jack been up to since he retired from yelling at politicians?" Daniel asks causing a general laugh to go around the room of Sam and Jack's Colorado house.

"What? Are you afraid to ask me yourself?" Jack challenges. Sam might be the only female in the room not on her husband's lap (chairs being a premium) but she is cuddled into his side with her feet tucked under her, and his arm is wrapped around her shoulder.

"A little, Teal'c and I always used to make up stories about what might happen if you actually retired. It was pretty terrifying stuff," Daniel says.

"Doctor Jackson is telling you an untruth," Teal'c says unemotionally.

"I always imagined lots of paper air planes and catapults," Vala says bouncing a little on Daniel's lap.

"Actually, he's writing a book," Sam declares proudly.

"I am pleased to see you are putting your college education to good use, O'Neill," Teal'c says.

"I feel like I'm in a parallel universe here. Jack as an English degree? He's writing a book? About what?" Daniel asks.

"Well, it started as Wizard of Oz fanfiction," Jack says doing his best impression of a Teal'c face.

"Wizard of Oz _fanfiction,"_ Daniel says in shock.

"They have fanfiction for just about everything now days," Sam assures him, "Jack's story has morphed into a cross between biography and science fiction now."

"So, we're not talking anything that could ever be published, then," Cam breaks in.

"He puts a lot of effort into making it just different enough from the truth that he's not breaking any non-disclosure rules, mostly by oversimplification and exaggeration."

"Writer's call it hyperbole, and don't forget about my use of metaphor and pop culture references," Jack says proudly.

"So, does only the weird science fiction parts of your life get into this book, or do I make an appearance?" Cassie asks.

"Sweetheart, you are part of the weird science fiction part of my life," Jack quips.

"The new part isn't," Cassie says laughing with her eyes.

"What new thing?" Sam asks poking her husband in the ribs.

"You promised that I would get to know first! You only let me have a couple hours!" Jack pouts.

"Why does he get to know first anyway?" Sam demand.

"Back when I stayed with him after college he made me promise I would tell him before Sam."

"Give us the news!" Daniel demands.

"She's clearly pregnant," Vala says with joy.

"You ready to be a Grandma?" Cassie asks Sam.

She responds with a squeal jumping up to hug Cassie, and then her son-in-law.

Daniel has repositioned Vala on his lap so he can see her face, and is looking at her with such worry that no one else misses it.

"You okay, princess?" Cam asks.

"I'm fine," she says to Cam, "Stop fussing!" she scolds her husband.

"Maybe we should…" he begins, but she shakes her head.

"Vala, please?" Cassie asks.

"Okay, I didn't want to steal your thunder little girl, but you asked for it. I think you guys might have guessed that Daniel and I have had some difficulty in the child having department. We won't get into the details, just know it's not Goa'uld or gate related. Well, we've decided to adopt. We were both kids that no one wanted, and we want one of those kids," she says.

"Good for you," Cam says smiling at them.

"I am relieved that something good will finally be coming from your pain," Teal'c says looking long into Daniel's eyes before looking at his wife's.

"I'm going to teach your child to do all the things that you annoyed me with over the years. It will take you nine hours to get him home from a park," Jack tells Daniel.

"We never said we were letting the kid anywhere near you," Daniel retorts. "Why don't you just have your own kid to corrupt?"

"Did you miss the part about how I'm going to be a grandpa? I think we should get Cassie's kid for about a month in the summer, what do you think wife?" Jack asks.

"I think your underestimating how quickly a baby can tire out an old man like you, but we're definitely going to be spending a lot of time with the kid," Sam says with a twinkle in her eye.

"You could be a mom and a grandma at the same time," Cassie points out.

Sam takes her by the chin, "No regrets about having only you for a kid. None. Ever."

"I have another kid," Jack declares proudly causing the room to stare at him. Sam returns to her seat next to him giggling guessing what he means.

"You mean Charlie?" Daniel asks softly.

"Nope. My book," Jack declares, "I love it at least as much as I love Cassie."

"And it sleeps in bed with us when it has nightmares too," Sam points out.

"One time, Sam," Jack says with an eye roll.

"No, once you stopped in the middle of sex to take notes. You've fallen asleep with the notebook on your chest dozens of times."

"Feel free to take notes whenever we're having sex. I'm sure my moves are way better than Samantha's," Vala says to her husband, "No offense darling."

"None taken, he wasn't taking notes on what _I_ was doing," Sam mutters.

"…and it was at the moment, that she realized her parents no longer viewed her as a little kid," Cassie mutters in a fake narrator voice.

"That's what happens when you let yourself get knocked up little girl," Jack points out.

"I'll never get gummy bears in my brownie's again," Cassie pouts.

"I'll make them for your baby though," Sam promises.

"Until I found out your book had true to life dirty scenes in it, I thought I'd want to read it," Daniel says with disgust.

"I wouldn't have let you anyway. You'll analyze my mythology based on ancient cultures."

"You just don't want me to know what you said about me," Daniel says.

"I never said you were in it," Jack says. Daniel looks devastated for a few seconds until his wife bursts into laughter, and he realizes that Jack is yanking his chain.

"Definitely a corrupting influence, if I were you Cass, I wouldn't let your kid around him."

"Well, he can't be all that bad," Cassie declares, "After all I turned out all right."

"Think of yourself pretty highly, don't you babe?" her husband teases.


	11. August 15, 2017

She wakes up to the feel of his eyes upon her. "Twelve years, sir, don't you ever get tired of this view?" The sir is rare now, that he's been her husband for longer than he was her commanding officer, but it comes sometimes when her mind is somewhere else, on a scientific problem or caught in a dream.

"Never. Twelve years," he pauses, "Best years of my life."

"Grandpa! Watch out, your favorite granddaughter is comin'," a little voice says.

"Come on up her little bit," he says pulling the three-year old onto the bed.

"Grandpa, will I always be your favorite?" she asks.

"Yeah, you're my favorite granddaughter, your brother is my favorite grandson," he declares.

"What if Mommy has another baby?" the little girl asks.

Jack sits up with the girl still on his lap, "Mommy's having a baby?"

"I'm not telling you nothing," she says crossing her arms.

"Well, if you were to have a sister, I supposed she'd have to be my favorite munchkin. I've got infinite room for favorites."

"Come on, Little Miss, Grandma needs a helper to make breakfast."

"I want to do it with Grandpa," she whines.

"Well, Grandpa gets you all day. Grandma wants to make breakfast with you, because she has to go to work. Also, he burns everything, and he'd better hop in the shower hasn't cleaned himself since you and your brother go here. If he gets any more stinky we're going to have to make him stay outside like Dog when he got sprayed by the skunk."

The girl giggles, and leans into Sam's shoulder.

-0-

"Cassie pick up the kids?" Sam asks when she returns home.

"Coupla hours ago," Jack says giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"So, what is the reason the kitchen is still a disaster zone?"

"Well, my wife destroyed it before traipsing off to work, and I'm an old feeble man tired out three days with the grandkids."

Her eyes laugh, even though the rest of her doesn't, "Cassie confess about the pregnancy?"

"Yep, she's nine weeks along."

"We'll be outnumbered," she says with a raise of her eyebrows as she heads to the kitchen to begin cleaning.

He follows along, and she knows he'll end up doing his fair share of the work, even if he'll also add to the mess by spaying her with bubbles. It's not actually that different form cooking with the grandkids actually, cleaning with Jack.

"You know. I'm not really that old," he ponders, "I thought by now I'd be too old to play with them, but I really love having them here."

"They are worth it aren't they," she smiles.

"You regret not having kids? I was old when we got together, but you weren't. You deserved that, and I feel like I took it from you."

"We decided together Jack, and I don't have any regrets. Being a Grandma is a lot of fun. You get to spoil them. Pay attention to them all the time. Not clean the house until they leave. If they were here all the time I'd have to clean, and they'd make it dirty as I cleaned. Then I would get crabby with them, and hate myself for it. Not only that, it couldn't be constant three-ring circus if we had kids living with us. There would have to be boring parts in between like homework and room cleaning and we'd have to start having something resembling rules. I like just having the fun parts in between my job."

"I really like being a grandpa," Jack agrees splashing her just as she knew he would.

"You were made for the job," she agrees. "You know what else? If we'd have kids we couldn't have afternoon sex in the kitchen."

He grins shaking the suds of his hands, "Another amazing point Samantha."


End file.
